Homicides That Are
Apparent Suicides

Mobile County, AL

Donnie Mays

Apr 12, 2001 (Mobile)

Donnie Mays was convicted of the murder of his wife Kaye. On the day of Kaye's death, Donnie, who worked for American General Auto
Finance, received a phone call from corporate headquarters telling him that
someone had forged his signature on expense reports. Kaye subsequently
admitted she had forged Donnie's signature. Not knowing the severity
of the wrongdoing or that Kaye had actually stolen money from his employer,
Donnie suggested they call his boss, Jim Martin, whom both Donnie and Kaye
were close to. However, Kaye decided it would be best to wait until
the following morning.Read More by Clicking Here

Los Angeles County, CA

Fred Rogers

1941

Courtney Fred Rogers was sentenced to death for the murders of
his parents. In Oct. 1941 his 50-year-old father was rescued from a
burning house, but later died of smoke inhalation. Investigators found
burning candles in the house and determined that fires had been set in
several rooms. The death of Rogers Sr. was ruled a suicide. Eight months earlier, Rogers' mother had died from the inhalation of
chloroform. Her death had also been ruled a suicide.

Four months after the death of his father, Rogers was arrested
for making a false $400 insurance claim. Police found that the
24-year-old was heavily in debt and began to wonder if he had killed his
parents in order to collect on life insurance. Rogers, however,
received no insurance proceeds for the death of his mother, although he did
receive full ownership of the home he had jointly owned with her. He
received only $1000 for the death of his father plus $2300 for damage to the
house. Such proceeds were small compared to Rogers' debts.

After 16 days of more-or-less continuous questioning by
police, Rogers confessed to the murders of his parents, a confession that he
soon retracted. Nevertheless, he was convicted of these alleged
murders. In 1943, the California Supreme Court unanimously threw out
Rogers' convictions. Evidence that his mother had committed suicide
was clear and convincing. The same was true in regard to the death of
his father. Neighbors had testified at how despondent Rogers Sr. was
over the death of his wife and how he often had spoken of taking his own
life. Neighbors also said he had spoken of his dread of being left
alone, after Rogers Jr., his only son, answered a draft call into the army. Rogers Jr. was scheduled to report the day after the fatal fire. At
retrial, in the face of no evidence against Rogers, the retrial court
dismissed charges. (ISI)
(Time) [2/09]

Escambia County, FL

E. J. Fudge

June 27, 1916

E. J. Fudge was convicted of the murder of his two daughters
Ethel and Tennie, ages 7 and 10 years. Evidence indicated the girls' deaths
were suicides as Tennie left behind three notes in her handwriting giving
reasons for her and her sister's suicides. At trial the state introduced a
possible motive for Fudge to kill his daughters and argued that he forced
Tennie to write the notes. However, the state's theory of the crime was
unsupported and appeared to only be a remote possibility. In Mar. 1918, the
state supreme court overturned Fudge's conviction for insufficient
evidence. Charges against him were subsequently dropped. (Fudge
v. State) (MOJ) [12/10]

Polk County, FL

Andrew Golden

Sept 13, 1989

Andrew Golden was convicted and sentenced to death for the
drowning murder of his wife, Ardelle. Golden's rented car was found
submerged in Lake Hartridge at the end of a boat ramp. The body of his wife
was found floating in the lake. Although the medical examiner had concluded
that there was no evidence of foul play, the prosecution argued that Golden
was in debt and stood to collect on a life insurance policy if his wife were
to die. There was no eyewitness testimony, no confession, and no other
evidence tending to show that Golden's wife had been murdered by anyone. Golden's lawyer did little to prepare for trial, having assumed that the
case would be thrown out before trial. He did not argue that Ardelle may
have committed suicide, having been depressed over the recent death of her
father. He did not tell the jury about the four death notices of her father
that Ardelle had with her in the car. On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court
reversed the conviction, holding that there was simply no evidence on which
to base the conviction. Golden was exonerated of all charges and released
in 1994. (FLCC) (DPIC) (Golden
v. State) [12/06]

Cook County, IL

Sammie Garrett

Nov 9, 1969

Sammie Garrett, a black man, was convicted of murdering his
28-year-old white girlfriend, Karen Thompson. Thompson had been in a
“highly emotional state” and left a purported suicide note. Two police
officers testified at Garrett's trial that, given the length of the shotgun
and the location of the wound, it would have been impossible for Thompson to
have shot herself. Since there was only one bullet hole on the exterior of
her head, they assumed it was an entrance wound. However, five years later
Thompson's remains were reexamined and the examination disclosed an entrance
wound in the roof of her mouth that the original pathologist had
overlooked. The Illinois Supreme Court overturned Garrett's conviction in
1975 and the State's Attorney dropped charges. (CWC) (Appeal)
[1/06]

Wabash County, IL

John Cochran

Oct 16, 1888

On Oct. 16, 1888 John Buchenberger, a businessman from
Evansville, Indiana, was found unconscious with a gunshot to the head. His revolver, with one empty shell chamber, was found by his side. Buchenberger had bought the revolver the day before his shooting. He
died three days after the shooting without regaining consciousness.

In November, John Cochran, a local man, whom Buchenberger had
met, was tried for Buchenberger's murder. At trial, Charles Reese, a horse
thief, testified that Cochran admitted to the murder. The jury found Cochran
guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison. However, unknown to the
defense, Buchenberger's wife in Evansville received a letter from her
husband four days after the shooting. In it Buchenberger stated, “he
was about to part from the world of mortals to dwell with his heavenly
father.” The wife eventually made the contents of this suicide letter
known. Because of the letter, Illinois Governor Fifer pardoned Cochran
in August 1890. (CWC)
[9/07]

Oakland County, MI

Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Sept 17, 1998

Dr. Jack Kevorkian was convicted of murdering 52-year-old
Thomas Youk. Youk was terminally ill and suffered from Lou Gehrig's
disease. Youk wanted to commit suicide as a means to end his suffering and
enlisted the aid of physician Kevorkian to ensure that it was done right. Kevorkian videotaped Youk's consent to his assistance and the assisted
suicide. Kevorkian aired the tape to a national audience on the
60
Minutes TV show. Physicians reportedly assist the terminally ill
end their lives all the time and they are not even investigated, but
Kevorkian's crime was to document his assistance. Kevorkian was paroled in
June 2007. [10/05]

Wayne County, MI

Lonnie Jenkins

Oct 15, 1931

Lonnie Jenkins was convicted of the murder of his wife. Initially a Coroner's jury found that Mrs. Jenkins had committed suicide by
shooting herself. However, Jenkins was later arrested for her murder. At
trial a 17-year-old girl who lived at the Jenkins' home testified she had
written his wife's suicide note at his dictation. Jenkins' daughter (who
was 12 at the time of the shooting) later brought the note to the attention
of FBI experts who determined the handwriting on the note was that of Mrs.
Jenkins. Jenkins conviction was vacated in Dec. 1940; he was released after
serving 9 years in prison. (The
Innocents) (News
Article) (Photo)
[12/10]

Wayne County, MI

Walter A. Pecho

June 9, 1954 (Detroit)

“Walter A. Pecho [an Oldsmobile plant worker] was wrongly
accused and convicted of murdering his wife [Eleanor] after he called police
to report that she had committed suicide by shooting herself with a shotgun. He was convicted on the testimony of the prosecution's pathologist erroneous
conclusion that Pecho's wife didn't commit suicide. In 1950 he was
pardoned by Michigan [Governor] Mennen Williams and freed after 6 years
imprisonment when his wife's ring fingerprint was found on the trigger guard
of the shotgun.” –
FJDB (Time)

Forrest County, MS

Stephanie Stephens

May 1, 2001 (Hattiesburg)

Stephanie Stephens was convicted of the murder of her
59-year-old husband, Dr. David Stephens. David was chief of surgery at
Hattiesburg's Forrest General Hospital. David appeared to have died in his
sleep, while Stephanie slept next to him. However, two drugs were found in
his system, Etomidate, an anesthetic, and Atricurium, a drug used to relax
muscles during surgery for patients on life support. Without life support,
Atricurium is lethal as it will paralyze a person's heart and lungs.Read More by Clicking Here

Essex County, NJ

Raffaelo Morello

1918

Raffaelo E. Morello, a recent immigrant to the U.S., was
convicted of murdering his wife in 1918. His wife of a few months had
threatened to commit suicide if he left her to answer a draft call for
service in the World War, but Morello ignored her and his wife carried out
her threat. Morello explained through an interpreter that he was
responsible for his wife's death by his insistence on becoming a soldier. However, his remarks were misunderstood to merely mean that he was
responsible for killing his wife. In prison after he learned to express
himself well in English, he told his story to welfare workers who launched
an investigation into his conviction. In 1926 this investigation resulted
in him being pardoned of the crime. (NY
Times) [8/10]

Cameron County, TX

Susan Mowbray

Sept 16, 1987

Susie Mowbray was convicted of murdering her husband, J.
William “Bill” Mowbray, Jr. After incessantly protesting her innocence, she
was granted a retrial in 1996 by a Texas appeals court that ruled
prosecutors concealed a crucial report on the blood splatter evidence that
supported Mowbray's innocence. When retried in 1998, forensic evidence
supported the defense claim that Mowbray's husband committed suicide while
she was asleep next to him in bed. Dr. Herbert MacDonnell testified that it
was likely Bill Mowbray committed suicide. Mowbray was acquitted. [10/05]

Powhatan County, VA

Beverly Monroe

Mar 4, 1992

Beverly Anne Monroe was convicted of the murder of Roger
Zygmunt Comte de la Burdé, her wealthy lover. De la Burdé, 60, died at
Windsor on his 220-acre estate. His body was found on a couch in his
library with a bullet in his head from his own revolver. Monroe had been
his companion for 12 years. In 2002, a federal judge overturned Monroe's
conviction due to the withholding of exculpatory evidence by the
prosecution. The judge also ruled that “The physical evidence necessary to
show whether [de la Burdé's] death was a murder or a suicide was . . .
either tainted or lost.” Monroe was subsequently released from prison. (TruthInJustice)
[5/08]

Wise County, VA

Merry Pease

Nov 18, 1993 (Exeter)

Merry Pease was convicted of murdering her husband, Dennis
Pease. Merry maintains her husband shot her, after which he turned the gun
on himself and committed suicide. Merry was prosecuted on the theory that
she shot her husband, and then shot herself to cover-up her crime. The case
prosecutor withheld evidence at trial such as a medical examiner's report
that ruled her husband's death a suicide. Merry's conviction has been
overturned twice, but the Virginia Supreme Court reinstated her second
conviction. Merry was paroled in 2006. (Bristol
Herald Courier) (American
Justice) [12/05]

England (Stafford CC)

Ryan James

Jan 13, 1994

Ryan James was convicted of the murder of his
39-year-old wife, Sandra James. Sandra died from drinking a glass of orange juice that contained a fatal dose of immobilon, a horse tranquilizer. Ryan, a veterinarian, had access to the drug. He also been having an
affair with another woman, Catherine Crooks. The lovers had left their
spouses to live together, but the cost of running two homes drove Ryan back
to his wife.

Sandra's death
would have allowed Ryan to start a new life with Catherine on the proceeds
of a £180,000 life insurance policy. Besides these proceeds,
£143,000 in debts were wiped out by Sandra's death. At trial, Ryan's
defense argued that Sandra had committed suicide, but made it look like
murder. However, the crown argued that it was murder made to look like
a suicide. Ryan was sentenced to life in prison. His trial
judge,
Justice Anthony Hidden, told him he was “the most evil, selfish, and
criminally callous man” he had ever sentenced.

While in prison
Ryan married Catherine, who never believed he killed his wife. While
going through her new husband's belongings, Catherine found a handwritten
note stuffed inside one of Ryan's professional journals. It was in
Sandra's handwriting and said, “Ryan, I leave you absolutely nothing but
this note – if you find it in time, Sam.” Sam was Sandra's pet name. Because the note indicated suicidal intent, Ryan's conviction was quashed in
1998 and he was released from prison. There was some additional
evidence that Sandra was depressed. She had taken anti-depressants in
the 1970s. At the time of Sandra's death there were puncture wounds
in her foot. It was alleged that she had experimented with the
immobilon drug by injecting it into her foot, then injecting herself with
the antidote shortly thereafter. (Innocent)
[10/08]

France

Jean Calas

Oct 1761

“Jean Calas was wrongly convicted on March 9, 1762 of
murdering his son [Marc-Antoine] by hanging him. 63-year-old Calas was
executed later the same day he was convicted by being strangled and burned.
Calas had been horrifically tortured in an effort to extract a confession,
but he did not confess. Voltaire took up the cause of finding evidence to
prove Calas was innocent. On June 4, 1764, France's Great Council annulled
Calas' judgment of guilt. On March 9, 1765, Calas was acquitted after a
retrial, and his son's death was officially ruled a suicide. After the
decision was announced, Voltaire wrote, "This is an event that seems to
allow one to hope for universal tolerance." At the time Voltaire was
71-years-old. After making an application to the King, Madame Calas was
awarded 12,000 livres, his two daughters were each awarded 6,000 livres,
3,000 livres was awarded to each of his sons and the Calas’ housekeeper, and
6,000 livers was awarded to the family to cover legal expenses. One thousand
livres was equal to 10.8 ounces of gold, so these were very significant sums
in 1765 given the generally low standard of living in France.” –
FJDB

Plausible Suicides Though Cause of Death is Undetermined

Penobscot County, ME

Stain & Cromwell

Feb 22, 1878 (Dexter)

David L. Stain and Oliver Cromwell were convicted of the
alleged 1878
murder of John Wilson Baxter. Baxter was the cashier at the Dexter
Savings Bank and was found in the vault of the bank, wounded, gagged,
handcuffed, and unconscious. He died a few hours after he was found. Following an initial investigation, the local townspeople were divided on
whether Baxter committed suicide or was murdered. There was little
evidence of an intruder, but some thought it unlikely that Baxter could have
gagged and handcuffed himself.Read More by Clicking Here

Baltimore City, MD

Nick Bagley

Nov 28, 1961

Nick Donald Bagley was convicted of the murder of Donald J.
Davis. Davis operated a retail meat store on Falls Road in Baltimore City. Around 7 a.m. one morning, he was found in his store lying in a pool of
blood with a gunshot wound to his head. A revolver belonging to Davis was
on the floor close to and pointing toward the left side of his head. He
died four days later. The medical examiner reported that his findings
indicated a typical self-inflicted wound.Read More by Clicking Here

Jackson County, MO

Byron Case

Oct 22, 1997

Byron Christopher Case was convicted of the murder of
18-year-old Anastasia WitbolsFeugen. He was sentenced to life imprisonment
without parole. On the night of her alleged murder, Anastasia had been with her
boyfriend, Justin Bruton, 18, and another couple, Byron Case, 18, and Kelly
Moffett, 15. The four had met at around 8:30 p.m. According to Byron and
Kelly, Anastasia was angry at being picked up three hours late, got into an
argument with Justin, and soon left the vehicle at a stoplight. Anastasia
was found shot dead at 3:45 a.m. that night in a nearby cemetery. Justin never talked to the police and less than 48 hours
later, he was found shot dead 30 miles away from a self-inflicted gunshot
blast to the head.Read More by Clicking Here

England (Luton CC)

Nico Bento

Dec 13, 2005 (Bedford)

Amilton Nicolas Bento (aka Nico),
a Portuguese immigrant, was convicted of the murder of his 26-year-old
Polish girlfriend, Kamila Garsztka. The alleged crime occurred in Bedford, England
in or near the River Great Ouse. A CCTV security camera caught Garsztka
walking alone on the embankment of the river toward Priory Lake which adjoined the river. Garsztka's
coat, scarf, and shoes were found by the river bank about an hour later. Bento reported Garsztka missing and pestered police to step up their search
for her and keep him informed. He told police Garsztka had left her
handbag in his apartment, which police later retrieved. Seven weeks
after she went missing, canoeists found her body floating in Priory Lake.Read More by Clicking Here

Santa Clara County, CA

David Lamson

May 30, 1933 (Palo Alto)

David A. Lamson, an advertising manager for Stanford
University Press, was convicted of murdering his wife, Allene. Lamson's
wife died in the bathroom of the couple's house after either being struck or
falling and hitting some object. The Lamsons lived at 622 Salvatierra
Street in Palo Alto. The case received much press attention. At Lamson's
trial the defense was unprepared to rebut an alleged “love triangle” motive
for the killing. After being convicted, Lamson was sentenced to death. Lamson won a retrial in 1934, but that trial led to a hung jury. A third
trial was aborted due to jury list irregularities. Lamson's fourth trial
also led to a hung jury. The prosecution then decided to drop the case
against Lamson and he was released. Lamson wrote a book about his case
entitled We Who Are About To Die. (Stanford
Mag) (MOJ)
[7/07]

Clark County, NV

Tabish & Murphy

Sept 17, 1998 (Las Vegas)

Rick Tabish, a trucking contractor, and Sandy Murphy, a
one-time topless dancer, were convicted in 2000 of murdering Murphy's
boyfriend, Ted Binion. Binion, 55, was formerly an executive of the
Horseshoe Casino and had an estate worth $50 million. Tabish and
Murphy allegedly killed Binion by forcing him to swallow a mixture of black
tar heroin and the sedative Xanax. Murphy stood to inherit about $1.5
million from Binion's estate. Tom Dillard, an investigator hired by
the Binion family, gathered evidence against the pair and got police to file
charges. Defense argued at trial that Binion was a well-known heroin
addict and had simply overdosed.

Binion reportedly became depressed in March 1998 after the
Nevada Casino Gaming Control board permanently barred him from his family's
casino because of his reported drug use and his association with a known
mobster. The day before Binion's death, he was prescribed a month's
supply of Xanax, which is useful for combating the withdraw symptoms of
heroin. However, it seemed unlikely that he planned to use the Xanax
for that purpose, for later that day, he bought 12 balloons of black tar
heroin from a drug dealer. Tabish and Murphy's convictions were
overturned in 2003 and the two were acquitted on retrial in 2004. (L.A.
Times) (American
Justice) [12/06]

Franklin County, OH

Kevin Tolliver

Dec 29, 2001

Kevin Alan Tolliver, a black man, was convicted of murdering
Claire Schneider, his white live-in girlfriend. According to Tolliver,
Schneider killed herself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Although
she was clinically depressed and had not taken her Paxil medicine in 4 days,
Schneider's shooting of herself in the mouth, happened so unexpectedly that
it appeared to be an involuntary suicide. She may not have been aware
that the gun was loaded. The shooting occurred shortly after midnight.

Tolliver was a severe dyslexic since childhood, and
emotionally went to pieces following his girlfriend's death. He
screamed and cried. Two neighbors in his building, hearing his screams
called police, but police came and left without finding the source of the
disturbance. Police finally were summoned back by Tolliver's ex-wife,
more than an hour after the shooting. Police arrested Tolliver
immediately and performed no investigation. They did not test either
Tolliver's or Schneider's hands for gunshot residue.

The coroner was prepared to rule that Schneider's death was
self-inflicted, until the police gave their theory. He still ruled
that her death was undetermined. The prosecution argued murder and Tolliver
was convicted because of ineffective defense and the perjured testimony of a
jailhouse snitch. Tolliver is serving 16 years to life imprisonment.
(Free KT) [4/08]

Warren County, OH

Ryan Widmer

Aug 11, 2008

Ryan Widmer was convicted of murder for the bathtub drowning
of his wife, Sarah Widmer. The drowning occurred at the Widmer's home in
Hamilton Township. Police testified that when found, Sarah's body was drier
that it should have been according to story given to them by Ryan. This
alleged discrepancy was basically the sole evidence against Ryan. There was
no known motive and no evidence that either Sarah or Ryan engaged in a
struggle. Sarah's family did not believe the charges against Ryan and held
up Sarah's funeral so Ryan could attend. Friends and family said Ryan had
no known history of getting angry. They also said Sarah was known to spend
hours in the bathtub and that she habitually fell asleep, even as she sat in
a car on her way to social outings or during movies. It is possible that
Sarah suffered from an undiagnosed seizure disorder or narcolepsy. Some
jurors at Ryan's trial engaged in apparent misconduct by conducting their
own drying time experiments. (freeryanwidmer.com) (Archives)
[6/09]

Australia (SA)

Henry Keogh

Mar 18, 1994

Henry Vincent Keogh was convicted of the murder of his
29-year-old fiancée, Anna-Jane Cheney. Cheney was found dead in the bathtub
of the home that the two shared on Homes Ave. in Magill, an Adelaide
suburb. On the day of her death, Cheney finished work and met Keogh in a
local hotel where the two had wine and potato wedges. Both of them went home
to Anna's house but drove there in separate cars. Cheney then took her dog
to her sister-in-law's house and the two women walked their dogs in a local
park. After Cheney returned home, Keogh went to visit his mother. Keogh
returned home around 9:30 p.m. and found Cheney slumped in her bathtub with
her face underwater. He claimed he tried to resuscitate her, but neither he
nor paramedics were successful. Cheney's blood alcohol level was later
determined to be .08%, a moderate level of intoxication.Read More by Clicking Here